The network was soft launched with limited advanced promotion on September 28, 2014, on the digital subchannels of Weigel-owned stations WWME-CD and WCIU-TV in Chicago, and WMLW-TV in Milwaukee. Heroes & Icons was created at the request of the affiliates of Weigel's existing networks, in order to increase their programming options. The network also launched in the South Bend, Indiana market, along with the major cable providers in the Chicago and Milwaukee markets using existing carriage. Weigel opted to soft launch H&I in order to fine-tune its schedule, along with adding additional programming to the fledgling network. With the network having settled on a more stabilized schedule, Weigel moved the Heroes & Icons affiliation in Milwaukee to the third subchannel of CBS affiliate WDJT-TV on March 5, 2015, with This TV – which previously occupied the 58.3 space – moving to WMLW-DT3 in its place. Fox Television Stations expanded its relationship with Weigel beyond Movies!, adding it to eleven of their stations in the fourth quarter of 2015. A list of 2019 Nielsen ratings published by Variety indicated that Heroes & Icons averaged 196,000 viewers in prime time, up 18% from the 2018 average.
Programming
Much like its sister network, MeTV, Heroes & Icons' program schedule relies primarily on television series from the programming libraries of CBS Television Distribution, NBCUniversal Television Distribution and 20th Television, and also includes some feature film content. H&I targets a more niche audience than MeTV, carrying programming aimed at a generally male audience – featuring a mix of action series, police procedurals, Westerns, science fiction, fantasy and military-themed programs. In addition to carrying acquired programming, Heroes & Icons also carried an early morning simulcast of TouchVision from September 29, 2014 to January 14, 2016. The network also carries a three-hour block of children's programming on Sunday mornings in order to fulfill educational programming requirements mandated by the Federal Communications Commission. On Monday, February 8, 2016, first run syndicated shows, ' and ', debuted on the network weeknights in early evening hours. The "All Star Trek" programming block was launched on July 24, 2016 with all five live action Star Trek shows in sequence from the beginning on Sunday plus on Monday through Friday. As of September 3, 2018, The Day Shift block stripped shows during the week from 11 am to 7 PM with a show per day Monday through Friday: Nash Bridges, House, M. D., JAG, Monk and Numb3rs, thus displacing Hercules and Xena. The "Action Sunday!" block began on February 9, 2020, featuring Adventures of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Sheena, Relic Hunter, Mutant X, Beastmaster, and War of the Worlds. As of July 5th, 2020, the Sunday block became the classic TV show The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack. However, Superman and Batman both remain airing on this channel.
Affiliates
, Heroes & Icons has current affiliation agreements with television stations in 63 media markets encompassing 33 states, covering 69.21% of the United States. The network is carried on the digital subchannels of television stations in most of its markets. The network is also carried on cable television providers through their digital tiers at the discretion of the affiliate's parent station in certain markets. In South Bend, Indiana, where Weigel Broadcasting owns three television stations, the network is instead carried by former Fox affiliate WSJV through an agreement with that station's owner Quincy Media. The network added additional stations by early December 2014, which in addition to WSJV, included KCSG in the Salt Lake City market and a digital subchannel of Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI. On September 18, 2015, Weigel signed an affiliation agreement with Fox Television Stations to carry the network on subchannels of the group's Fox and MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated stations in eleven markets, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2015. Once all of the stations involved in the agreement affiliated with the network, H&I will expand its coverage to 52% of all U.S. households and availability in eight of the 10 largest Nielsen markets. Weigel also maintains a secondary agreement with Spectrum to carry the network nationwide on that cable service, slotting the network's national feed on systems where a terrestrial affiliate does not exist or isn't under contract to be carried.
